For the Ones I Love
by Phedre no Delaunay
Summary: While visiting the Moon Kingdom on a 'diplomatic mission,' King Vegeta meets and is enchanted by a certain moon princess. A story about the problems with political marriages and blackmail. R
1. Prologue

::sighs:: I know, I should be working on my other...uh...seven stories, but I had another damned epiphany, so I kinda had to write this. And I love the whole idea behind this story, so you're stuck with this until I feel like updated something else. So...just get yourself accustomed to this story for a while.  
  
For those of you who have read most of my stuff, you realize that I like to take stereotypes and turn them around. For example, in The Backward Betrayal, instead of Usagi getting betrayed by her friends, Heero gets betrayed. Of course, that was a parody and it was extremely crappy, but you get the general idea. But, I've noticed another common theme in the SM/DBZ section, and this idea popped into my head. Only, this story is actually going to be very serious.  
  
Ever read one of those stories where Usagi is either Goku or Vegeta's daughter? There seem to be quite a few of them. In truth, I haven't really read many of them, but I've seen the summaries. This led me to think...what if Vegeta was Usagi's son? Of course, that brought about issues with ages and time periods, but I think I've got it figured out pretty well. ^_^ We'll see what happens.  
  
Disclaimer: Uh...I don't own 'em. Never have, never will, don't really want to. Just borrowing them for a while.  
  
Rating: PG-13 for language, some violence and maybe some sex depending on how detailed I want the story to be. I don't intend on doing anything exceptionally graphic, but some things inevitably must be mentioned.  
  
One more warning before I start the story...Just because Usagi is the main character does not mean that she will be a goddess treated like she's perfect. She has flaws, and she will be going through a lot of difficult/painful/stressful situations. While the story does not bash her (BASHING IS BAD) it is not nice to her, either. BEWARE: POLITICS!!! Lots and lots of politics. You have been warned. ^_^ Now, on with the story.  
  
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Prologue  
  
They blamed their loss on many things, never seeming to agree on any one reason. And indeed, there was no one real reason behind it. Most of the excuses the people gave were indeed part of the problem. However, the basic reason that led to many of the others was a reason no one wanted to admit to. The people lost what they held dear mostly because they took it for granted. They assumed it would always be there, since it had been there for so long, so they let their guard down, little by little, and when it was torn away, they jumped to blame something else. It seems that with humans, that is always the case. It's never your own fault; you must always blame someone else.  
  
The most common object of people's blame was the invading race. People mused that if the alien king had not taken an interest in their kingdom, he never would have met Princess Serenity, and then he never would have started his 'scheming.' And true, if this king hadn't come, then things would not have changed at that time. But, if it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else, possibly worse, and the people never thought about that. Some also blamed the princess herself, for her stubborn pride, for her bravery and self-sacrifice. If, somehow, she'd found a different way to solve the problem, things wouldn't have turned out the way they did. The queen was also blamed. Some thought that if she'd kept the invading king away, he never would have seen the princess, and would have left them all alone. They were all right and all wrong at the same time.  
  
If one takes the first point of view, one could say that it did all start when the king of the alien race took notice of the small kingdom nestled in a rather remote galaxy. Normally, he and his advisors would have merely glanced over it, not caring what went on there so long as it didn't threaten any of their political ties. However, situations in the universe were changing, and the kingdom now occupied a position of interest to the king.  
  
This king ruled a much more impressive empire. While at the time it was common for one planet or a small group of planets to have one ruler, this king had found a way to either persuade or conquer a great number of these kingdoms, or systems as they were more often called. Many times the rulers were not kings. In this case, there were few systems in the universe capable of challenging his power, but still, political ties had to be kept in order for a stable government, especially in such a large system. And, currently, there was one area that was causing trouble.  
  
This system, known to most everyone of the day, was named after its ruling class, the Saiya-jins. Its hold on planets extended quite near the smaller system, but seemed almost to circle around it on three sides. On the far side, another system was supplying a small group of rebels with manpower and equipment. The Saiya-jin policy when it came to rebellion was simple: destroy as many of the rebels as you can get away with, and imprison the rest as quickly as possible, before they have time to amass enough power to overthrow the government. It was ruthless, but if they weren't ruthless, the Saiya-jins would not have controlled such a large system for so long.  
  
It just so happened that the small system generally overlooked by just about everyone in the universe was in the ideal place to position soldiers until a course of action could be determined. The king was unsure of exactly how many rebels there were, or just what they were up to, but he felt that positioning soldiers nearby would hamper their progress. Unfortunately, since this system was ruled by a pacifist queen, and was not part of his system, he had no legal right to occupy any of the planets with soldiers. The most logical solution: add the system to his own.  
  
Unfortunately this was easier said than done. As mentioned before, the queen was generally a pacifist. However, when forced into a corner, she had a tendency to do things that were, to say the least, drastic. She and her people were fiercely loyal to one another, and she would not have a shortage of willing soldiers. While this normally wasn't a problem to the king, since he generally had a few million extra soldiers on hand if need be, he felt that this system would be a better ally if won over with words. Some races would simply submit when shown that they were lower on the food chain, but they tended to be the ones that knew a great number of rulers in a short amount of time, few of whom cared much about the well-being of its citizens. This system, however, had never known a truly cruel ruler, and had never been taken over by force. In theory, it was an infant compared to the other, ancient systems with thousands of years of political history. Because of this, the threat of pain would not bring the citizens into submission.  
  
Thus, the king decided that his first move would be to visit this system. He knew that if he took the initiative to speak to the queen about his problem, she would be more likely to agree to his terms. All in all, they really weren't unreasonable, and in fact were quite common when larger systems were in need of quelling a rebellion. Hopefully, the queen would not allow her pacifist side to overrule her common sense. His councilors seemed to think his plan was rather brilliant. He thought they were sucking up.  
  
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Streams of light, golden and soft in the early morning, brushed lightly against the crystalline spires, reflecting in the calm pools below. Immediately nearby, exotic flowers in a rainbow of brilliant color provided a serene setting. Cool, white marble pathways led any who cared to the front gate of the royal palace. A long marble wall, around fifteen feet high separated the courtyard from the rest of the kingdom, and people were allowed to come and go through a numerous supply of gateways. These gateways had a guard tower atop them, covered by a dome-shaped roof and bearing the royal insignia. Delicate arches and intricate patters graced the walls of these gateways, and people often stopped to admire the incredible handiwork that must have gone into the construction of such places.  
  
Once inside the courtyard, one could see the royal palace itself, shining in the soft glow of the sun, silver against the black sky. The earth could be seen at a distance, a beautiful jewel in the sky, white swirling with greens and blues that changed every time you bothered to look. There were a number of smaller buildings located throughout the courtyard, where people lived, kept shops, or were otherwise employed. All of them showed the same expertise of design as the front gates. Town fountains located at the cross-sections of what could only be described as streets were rumored to be among the most beautiful in the world. Many depicted common, everyday people doing daily chores. Whoever the artists were, they knew how to depict the beauty that is present in everyone, no matter how plain their face may seem. That was the true magic of this place.  
  
Behind the palace, the royal gardens were located. The magic in the air was tangible, leaving the observer with a sense of peace, whether they liked flowers or not. Again, beautiful fountains were situated sporadically along the marble paths, clear water trickling out and bubbling as it hit the pools, causing ripples to move across the surface. Occasionally, a random person strolled about, be they a member of the court, a guard off duty for the time being, or just a common person allowed access to the gardens. All spent the time musing about whatever was troubling, finding solace in the peaceful scene and most finding the answer they were seeking.  
  
A pair of bright blue eyes observed all this day, curious as to what went on where no one usually paid attention. These eyes belonged to the princess herself. But they were not the eyes most people saw. These eyes, her true eyes, betrayed the sense of dread inside her. Things were going to change, as they always did, but this time, not for the best. While she was no prophet, she could tell something was wrong. The systems nearby were abuzz with activity, troops and supplies being shipped from the smaller system to the larger. Rumors flew, talk of rebellion, talk of usurpers of the throne, talk of danger.  
  
The princess always put out a happy, carefree front. The citizens saw her as a beautiful, peaceful girl who would one day take the throne and rule as her mother had, kindly and wisely. However, they did not know the horrors she heard of. Being a princess required her to know the politics of most of the systems in the nearby galaxies. Some of the stories of how certain rulers came in to power would have made many people sick. But still, she had to know, and had been learning of these things for quite a few years now. She was very well versed in the various methods of rule employed by other systems.  
  
Slowly over the years as she came to understand the way of the universe, her heart grew cold. She was still capable of loving, thanks to her wonderful mother and beautiful friends, but she was building a protective shell around her. Her mother had been much the same way when she had been a young princess learning the ways of ruling. It was a self- defense mechanism, made if only to keep the person from being torn apart by the horrors of the constant warring and destruction going on in other parts of the universe. The common person had no idea just how many millions of people died every day because of these wars. Princess Serenity knew nearly all of them.  
  
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A rather dry prologue, I will admit. It is perhaps even a bit on the boring side, but I can assure you that the next chapter will be much more interesting. King Vegeta will arrive in the Moon kingdom and there will be a great deal of arguing and debating and insulting going on. ^_^ Happy fun stuff. Anyway, I liked how the prologue turned out, and I think it foreshadows great things to come in coming chapters, so I really hope you keep reading. ^_^ I'll try to update again in a few days, since this was rather boring.  
  
REVIWS MAKE ME WRITE FASTER!!! 


	2. Chapter One

I'm so bad about updating in decent amounts of time. Sorry. I always have a whole story planed out in my head, but I can never get it written down. Not to mention, I have NO free time at all. They only reason you're getting this chapter this soon is because I have two three-day weekends in a row, so I actually have time for myself. During the week, I have soccer after school Monday through Friday, and Saturday mornings, symphony practice on Monday, cello lessons on Wednesday, other soccer practice on Thursday, violin lessons on Saturday and soccer games at random times on weekends. I spend all my free time trying to figure out my Pre-calculus homework. So...yeah, I don't have any time to write.  
  
Anyway, thanks to the five or so of you who reviewed. I really appreciated your comments, and I hope you'll keep making them. ^_^ I also hope a few more of you will actually bother to review, since this story is probably a lot better than most of my other stuff. Alrighty, on with the story!  
  
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The queen's receiving room had the same silver marble motif as the rest of the castle. The walls were decorated with arched alcoves containing beautiful statues of the royal family and some of the higher- ranking court officials. The throne, too, was a silvery white marble, elegantly decorated and carved to perfection down to the last detail. The queen was not fond of this throne, as it was cold and hard as marble tends to be, but it had been a wedding gift from her mother, so she didn't complain. It also did well in impressing foreign dignitaries, though the queen had to admit silently that it was a bit pompous to flaunt wealth in such a worthless manner. Still, in seeing the look of awe on the Saiya-jin king's face, she couldn't help but feel proud of her small kingdom's many accomplishments.  
  
The Saiya-jin king was much younger than she'd previously thought. Though, there had been talk about the young Saiya-jin who'd come to power, expanding the huge system he'd inherited at an alarming rate. His military genius was renowned throughout the Universe, and many smaller systems feared his wrath. The queen had expected him to be around thirty, young but experienced. The man in front of her couldn't have been more than twenty years old. She found it disturbing that a man of only twenty had the physical and mental capabilities to take over as many planets as this man had. While some would have been impressed with his power, especially at that day in age, she found it disgusting.  
  
However, this new proposition of his did seem to be intriguing. She found it odd that the ruler of a race of barbaric warriors would come to her in search of a peaceful agreement about the positioning of soldiers within her system. Of course, if she had been in his shoes, she would have simply offered to speak to the rebels, to try to understand their position and to try to come up with some sort of peaceful conclusion. He just wanted to go destroy a few thousand people without even trying to see why they were upset. Perhaps it really was the king's fault and the people were rebelling because of his mistakes. How would he look if he attacked his own subjects for trying to fix a mistake he had made? This young king still had much to learn, and she feared that only more turmoil was to come from this huge system with such a young leader.  
  
Still, she feared for his subjects, knowing that hard times awaited them in the near future. She decided that she would do her best to teach this youngster that force was not always the best option. Slowly she stood, silently cursing her body for its weakness in old age.  
  
"Walk with me," she said, stepping down from the dais.  
  
The Saiya-jin king was by her side immediately, taking her arm in his to support her. She silently admitted to herself that, for a supposed barbarian, he certainly had good manners. She accepted his help without protest and walked with him out of the throne room.  
  
"My family has ruled this system for three generations now. When my grandfather came into somewhat meager power, he did so by winning over the love of his people. Previously, the economy was in shambles, and dark forces covered many of our planets and moons. He gathered a small army, untrained farmers and shopkeepers, and stood up to the darkness. They were outnumbered and outclassed, but still they fought, fearful of the impending oppression and slavery that no doubt awaited them. My grandfather was killed, right before the end, in front of his wife and child. His wife shed only seven tears for the loss of her love, and then a miracle happened. A divine magic force that we still are unable to explain turned her tears to crystal, infused with enough magical energy to not only destroy the darkness plaguing our system, but to grant the woman one wish. With that wish, she brought her husband back to life, but at a cost. The amount of energy needed to wield the crystal drained her of her life energy, and she perished along with the darkness, leaving her husband and child behind."  
  
It was a legend passed down through the generations since then, and she had given her daughter the story as well, in hopes of spreading the wisdom that went along with the story. The Saiya-jin king didn't seem to be much impressed with her story, but she hoped that eventually he would come around and realize his foolishness.  
  
"If you'll excuse me, Your Majesty, I don't understand why you tell me this," he said. "I would simply like to know if you would be willing to allow me to station soldiers in your system until I can quell this rebellion."  
  
The queen chuckled at him, and did not respond right away. Instead, she led the way to a large window connected to a balcony, tugging gently at his arm and insisting that he follow her. He concealed an annoyed growl, growing impatient with her obviously intentional disregard of his question. He stood back a ways behind her as she proceeded to the edge of the balcony, gazing down at the garden below.  
  
"It's very lovely this time of year. Come over here and see," she said, turning to him and waving him over.  
  
"Your Majesty, if you'll only give your consent, I will leave you be and never bother you again. I grow impatient..."  
  
She put a hand over his mouth and led him by the arm over to the edge of the balcony. He resisted the urge to bite her hand. Reluctantly, he looked over the edge down into the gardens. She removed her hand, convinced that he would be moved enough not to protest, and indeed, she was right in doing so.  
  
He couldn't put a name to any of the flowers, even if he'd wanted to. He could tell that there were a million different shades of a million different colors, and that each was of an exotic quality that would never be found on his home planet. He could also tell that all the beauty of the flowers paled in comparison with the girl seated in the garden, tenderly brushing her fingers against a white blossom and smiling.  
  
It didn't take a genius to figure out that this girl was the princess, so great was her resemblance to the queen, but it was also strange to note the air of innocence around her. The queen, beautiful and regal as she was, was weathered, war-torn, tired and old, while the girl, young and energetic, still possessed an air of ignorance to the ways of the universe and seemed not to completely comprehend the effect she had on people.  
  
"You say nothing, Majesty. Can it be that a mere garden has stopped your rampage for order in your system? If so, the universe should be converted into one large garden, as the calming effects are so obvious. Imagine, war prevented by a mere rose."  
  
The queen chuckled. He cursed her silently, sure that she knew full well of the girl's presence and was only trying to find a weakness in him. He resolved not to give in to her cruel taunting. Instead, he turned to her, holding back a glare.  
  
"She is your daughter," he said. It was more a question than a statement, but it got the point across well enough. "She's very beautiful."  
  
"So it is Usagi that catches your eye, not the garden. A shame, really. I'm afraid we can't reproduce enough of her to give to all the leaders in space that they might lose interest in their petty wars," she said, sighing. "But then, she would be unhappy at that job, though not altogether unwilling to do her duties as a princess. She has seen more than anyone should see, let alone a girl of her age, and yet she still presses to know more of everything. She would die before letting anything happen to this system, and she has hardly bloomed into womanhood."  
  
"Then she will be a strong leader," he said, trying to appear gruff and uninterested. Of course, because the queen was so much older than he was, she saw right past his façade and laughed at him.  
  
"You love her already, do you? But no, I don't suppose your race puts so much into love, do you? You simply eat, fight and make babies?"  
  
"You should not assume so much," the king growled, glaring at the queen, anger flashing clearly in his dark eyes. "We may not spend so much time coddling each other, but we are faithful and protective of our families. You would do well not to forget that."  
  
* * *  
  
She knew quite well that her mother was on the balcony above, watching her. She also knew that their guest, the Saiya-jin king was with her, looking down into the garden. She could not hear their conversation, but she assumed that it had something to do with her, as they both looked at her on more than one occasion. It seemed that they were in the midst of a disagreement, and she had no doubt that her mother would win.  
  
Her mother had a way of winning arguments without arguing, no matter how hard the opposing party pushed. She was of such a commanding manner, and knew how to say the most with the fewest words that few could find fault with most of her reasoning and theories. The few who did, namely the royal house of Mercury, rarely bothered to disagree with her anyway, as they shared many of the same beliefs. She could only assume that it was frustrating to the Saiya-jin king to speak with her mother under these circumstances.  
  
Still, she felt little pity for the king. She had spent a great deal of her time in recent months studying the history and politics of the Saiya- jin system, and many of the war stories disturbed her greatly. She found it horrid that someone would kill as many millions of people as he did for the simple reason of expanding an already ridiculously immense system. The only credit that she could give him was that most of his subjects lived pleasant, if not lavish, lifestyles, and that the king allowed certain amounts of self-rule to many parts of his system where loyalty had been assured.  
  
The only reason he allowed anyone in his kingdom any amount of self- rule was that it was extraordinarily difficult to govern such a vast amount of space. Because of this, a certain selected few from the populations of various star systems were chosen to manage the affairs of a handful of planets, while reporting back to the king at various points through the course of the year. At random times, the king would visit and inspect the planets, to make sure that his officials weren't lying to him and that things were running smoothly.  
  
This system of government allowed the peoples of each planet continue with their own customs and traditions. Each official collected taxes from the people and worked with various members of the population, usually chosen by the people, to set rules, as well as punishments for those who broke the rules. The king reviewed the list, made a few adjustments in places, and then generally left the people alone, trusting his officials to alert him of any major problems.  
  
While the princess found this aspect of their government rather interesting, she still had a problem with the fact that he king gained all of these planets by forcefully taking them over. True, there were some systems who gave in to his power without a fight, and it was those planets who were more likely to receive self-rule, but there were also many planets that fought hard and died valiantly for freedom they would probably never enjoy again.  
  
As the princess sat thinking of everything she'd learned of the Saiya- jin system over the past few months, she made a promise to herself to make an attempt at changing the king's viewpoint. She knew that she would probably have little influence, as she herself held little power at the palace and was not very imposing either physically or mentally, but she was determined to do everything in her power.  
  
She placed the rose back down on the bench and stood up. She had yet to meet this foreign dignitary, and if she were going to sway any of his opinions, it might help her to learn something of his personality beforehand. She cast a quick glance up at the balcony, where her mother and the king still stood, arguing, before she gathered her skirts and made her way down the winding garden paths, heading toward the door into the palace.  
  
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So...what'd you think? Personally, I think Queen Serenity is starting to act like Miss Havisham from Dickens' "Great Expectations." I don't know if I like it or if it's just funny. I'd like your input. ^_^  
  
Oh, yeah, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Like I mentioned above, I have too much of a life and it takes up a lot of time. Not to mention my muse was on hiatus.  
  
Reviews make my muse happy, and when my muse is happy, I write more. ^_^ 


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